Count of Blois | |
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Creation date | 832 |
Created by | Louis the Pious |
Peerage | Nobility of France |
First holder | William, Count of Blois |
Last holder | Gaston, Duke of Orléans |
Subsidiary titles |
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Status | Dissolved |
Extinction date | 1660 |
Seat(s) | Château of Blois |
During the Middle Ages, the counts of Blois were among the most powerful vassals of the King of France.
This title of nobility seems to have been created in 832 by Emperor Louis the Pious for Count William, the youngest son of Adrian, Count of Orléans. Over a few decades, the county was gathered to the royal lands of France until the end of the 9th century, before being relegated to the status of viscount.
From its autonomy around 940 to the definitive integration to the Dukedom of Orleans in 1397, the county was directed by the son of the last viscount's descendants, Theobald I. His descendants, called House of Blois ended up related to a large number of European noble families.
In 1397, the title was ceded by Count Guy II in the favor of Duke Louis I of Orléans, who was the second son of King Charles V. The very last hereditary count of Blois was his grandson, Duke Louis II, who annexed the county to the Crown lands of France when he was crowned King of France in 1498 under the name of Louis XII.
The title reappeared in 1626 when Duke Gaston of Orléans was offered a newly independent County of Blois from Orléans, but King Louis XIV refused this favor to his brother, Duke Philippe, when he received the traditional apanage in 1660.
It is likely, but not certain, that the title of count of Blois was granted before the year 832.
Portrait | Name | Reign | Other titles | Description |
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William of Orléans (died in 834) | 832–834 | None | Son of Count Adrian of Orléans, he was invested with the title of first Count of Blois by King Louis the Pious, [1] being his father's vassal. By 834, he allied with King Pepin I of Aquitaine so that the latter could recover his kingdom, which had been given to his half–brother, King Charles II. [2] The mission was successful, but William died, with no descendants. His brother Odo was appointed as his heir but died the same day. | |
Robert the Strong (c. 815 – Sept. 866) | 834–866 | Margrave of Neustria Count of Orléans Count of Tours Count of Anjou Count of Auxerre Count of Nevers | Supposed son of Count Robert III of Worms and Waldrade, the last daughter of Count Adrian, who would have inherited the county as a dowry following the death of her two brothers and her husband in the war against King Charles II. He inherited the county of Orléans around 860 following the fall of Count William of Orléans, uncle of the previous one. [1] | |
Hugh the Abbot (died in 886) | 866–886 | Margrave of Neustria Count of Paris Count of Orléans Count of Tours Count of Anjou Count of Auxerre Count of Nevers | Son of Count Conrad I of Auxerre and Adelaide of Tours, he was Robert the Strong's sworn enemy before his death, but he inherited his possessions and raised Robert's two orphaned sons, Odo and Robert I. [3] | |
Odo (died in 898) | 886–888 | King of the Franks Margrave of Neustria Count of Paris Count of Orléans Count of Tours Count of Anjou | Eldest son of Robert the Strong, elected King of the Franks by 888, he decided to pass on his other titles to his brother Robert I. | |
Robert I (died in 923) | 888 – c. 900 | Margrave of Neustria Count of Paris Count of Orléans Count of Tours | Younger brother of the previous one, he was not elected King when his brother died in 898. He focused on the counties of Paris and Orléans, and he decided to gradually delegate the management of Blésois, Touraine and Anjou to viscounts. [4] |
Portrait | Name | Reign | Other titles | Description |
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Garnegaud (died after 906) | before 896– after 906 | Count of Chartres | Garnegaud and his wife Helena have no known heirs. As the Thibaldians were present in Blois in the 920s, this would place Garnegaud's death in the 910s. | |
Theobald the Elder (c. 890 – died in 940) | before 921–940 | Viscount of Tours | He was made Viscount of Tours in 909, then Viscount of Blois. He married Richilde. | |
Portrait | Name | Reign | Other titles | Description |
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Theobald I of Blois , aka Theobald the Trickster (c. 910–977) | 940–977 | Count of Tours Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Lord of Provins Lord of Chinon Lord of Saumur | Son of Theobald the Elder and Richilde. He was a fathful vassal of Hugh the Great which entrusted him with a vast county around 940 including Tours, Blois, Chartres and Châteaudun. He married Countess Luitgarde of Vermandois. During the infancy of Hugh Capet (956–960), Theobald became autonomous and get close to the Carolingian King Lothair II. Theobald enforced many territories or build many fortresses like Vierzon, Sancerre, Chinon, Saumur, Beaugency, and Provins. | |
Odo I of Blois (c. 950 – died in 996) | 977–996 | Count of Tours Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Count of Provins Count of Reims Count of Beauvais Count of Dreux | Second son of Count Theobald I and Luitgarde, he succeeded to his father after his brother's death in Normandy. He attacked Count Bouchard I of Vendôme, a King Hugh Capet's ally, and conquered Melun. He bought his alleagence to the King by giving the county of Dreux to him. He married the Carolingian Bertha of Burgundy. | |
Theobald II of Blois (c. 983 – 11 July 1004) | 996–1004 | Count of Tours Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Count of Provins Count of Reims Count of Beauvais | Elder son of Count Odo I, her reign was mainly supervized by his mother, who remarried King Robert II. The King took back Tours from Count Fulk III of Anjou, but Theobald died due to exhaustion on the way back from Rome in 1004, when he was 19. | |
Odo II of Blois (c. 985 – 15 Nov. 1037) | 1004–1037 | Count of Tours Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Count of Provins Count of Reims Count of Beauvais Count of Sancerre Count of Meaux Count of Troyes | Younger brother of Count Theobald II, he declared war to all his neighbors, and refused to give back his dowry (half of the county of Dreux) to Duke Richard II of Normandy. He continued to fight against Count Fulk III of Anjou, and finally won against him, but he was defeated in his turn in Pontlevoy by Count Herbert I of Maine. By 1022, he inherited the county of Troyes and Meaux from his cousin, and gathered the Blois-Champagne territory. Since he was also son of Bertha of Burgundy, he claimed his succession rights over the Kingdom of Arles from 1032 onwards, but he was killed next to Bar-le-Duc 5 years later. | |
Theobald III of Blois , or Theobald I of Champagne (c. 1019 – Sept. 1089) | 1037–1089 | Count of Tours Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Count of Provins Count of Reims Count of Beauvais Count of Sancerre Count of Meaux Count of Troyes Lord of Château-Thierry | Elder son of Count Odo II, who transmitted him the county, but Theobald refused to recognize King Henry I's legitimacy. As a result, the King took the county of Tours back to give it to his ally, Count Geoffrey IV of Anjou, after the battle of Nouy of 1044. He gathered again his father's territories of Blois and Champagne by getting rid of his cousin, Count Odo, and established Champagne as a proper county. He married Gersent of Le Mans, the daughter of his father's foe. [5] | |
Stephen II of Blois , or Stephen Henry of Blois (c. 1045 – died in 1102) | 1089–1102 | Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Count of Provins Count of Sancerre Count of Meaux Count of Reims | Elder son of Count Theobald III, he married Adela of Normandy, who was actually William the Conqueror's daughter. Under his wife's influence, he was among the first noblemen in responding to Pope Urban II's call for the First Crusade. With other Counts, he fell out of favor when they left the Siege of Antioch, but Count Stephen found a more honorable death at the Second battle of Ramla of 1102. His second son was Stephen, King of England (1135–1154). | |
Theobald IV of Blois , or Theobald II of Champagne aka Theobald the Great (c. 1090/1095 – 10 Jan. 1152) | 1102–1152 | Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Count of Troyes Count of Champagne Lord of Sancerre | First son of Count Stephen II and Adela of Normandy, his reign was managed by his mother until his majority. He faced upheavals from his vassal Hugh III of Le Puiset. When his uncle went to the Holy Land, he inherited the County of Champagne. He was approached by the Norman barons to become King of England, who also called on him to become their Duke but, in the end, his brother Stephen was chosen in 1135. Instead, he turned the Champagne into a powerful county, and founded the Champagne fairs. | |
Theobald V of Blois aka Theobald the Good (1130 – died in 1191) | 1152–1191 | Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun | When his father Count Theobald IV died, his territories were split between his sons, among which Theobald received the county of Blois and the Champagne was offered to Henry. Theobald tried to conquer Vendôme and took part of Henry the Young King's rebellion to reconquer Tours. He married Princess Alice and, as a consequence, entered into the royal family of France. With his nephew Count Henry II of Champagne, he joined the Third Crusade, but was killed during the Siege of Acre in 1191. | |
Louis I of Blois (1171 – 14 April 1205) | 1191–1205 | Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Duke of Nicaea | Son of Count Theobald V, whom he beneathed the county from. He married Lady Catherine of Clermont who was the heiress of the county of Clermont. He was also part of the Fourth Crusade, and was made in 1204 Duke of Nicaea, Anatolia. He was killed the following year, during the Battle of Adrianople, on April 14. | |
Theobald VI of Blois (1190–1218) | 1205–1218 | Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Count of Clermont | Unique son of Count Louis, he inherited both counties of Blois and Clermont. He got leprosy when he travelled to Spain, and died in 1218 while being recluse and having no descendant. The counties of Blois, Chartres, and Châteaudun were split between his aunts, Lady Margaret and Lady Isabelle. | |
Margaret of Blois (1170 – Sept. 1230) | 1218–1230 | Countess of Châteaudun | Third daughter of Count Theobald V and Princess Alice, she inherited the counties of Blois and Châteaudun when her nephew died. Her husband, Lord Walter II of Avesnes, was the jure uxoris Count during her life. |
Title held by House of Avesnes .
Portrait | Name | Reign | Other titles | Description |
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Mary of Blois (c. 1200 – 1241) | 1230–1241 | Countess of Châteaudun Lady of Avesnes Lady of Bohain Lady of Guise | Daughter of Countess Margaret and Lord Walter II of Avesnes, she inherited all her parents' domains, and thus became Countess of Blois and Châteaudun, and Lady of Avesnes, Bohain, and Guise. She married Count Hugh I of St Pol who was the jure uxoris Count during her reign. |
Title held by House of Châtillon .
Portrait | Name | Reign | Other titles | Description |
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John I of Châtillon (died in 1279) | 1241–1279 | Count of Chartres Count of Châteaudun Lord of Avesnes Lord of Guise | Son of Countess Mary and Count Hugh, he was Count of Blois, then Count of Dunois and Chartres, and Lord of Avesnes and Guise. | |
Joan of Châtillon (c. 1253 – 29 Jan. 1292) | 1279–1292 | Countess of Chartres Countess of Châteaudun Lady of Guise | Daughter of Count John and Lady Alix of Britanny. She sold the county of Chartres to King Philip IV, and died a few years later. Her holdings were transmitted to her cousin, Hugh. | |
Hugh II of Châtillon (9 April 1258 – 1307) | 1292–1307 | Count of Châteaudun | Grandson of Countess Mary through his father, Count Guy III of St Pol, he renounced to the county of St Pol when he received that of Blois by 1292. | |
Guy I of Châtillon (1298–1342) | 1307–1342 | Count of Châteaudun Lord of Fréteval Lord of Château-Renault | Son of Count Hugh II and Béatrice of Dampierre, he was part of the beginning of the Hundred Years' War when it broke out in 1337, along with his brother-in-law, King Philip VI. | |
Louis II of Châtillon (1320–1346) | 1342–1346 | Count of Châteaudun Lord of Fréteval | Son of Count Guy and Margaret of Valois, he beneathed the county of Blois and Dunois, but died during the battle of Crécy, in northern France. | |
Louis III of Châtillon (bef. 1340–1372) | 1346–1372 | Count of Châteaudun Count of Soissons Lord of Fréteval | Son of Count Louis I, he succeeded to his father when he was a child, so her mother was regent during his reign's first years. He died with no heirs and devolved by his wills the counties of Blois and Avesnes to his brother, John. | |
John II of Châtillon (1340–1381) | 1372–1381 | Count of Châteaudun Count of Soissons Lord of Fréteval | Brother of Count Louis II, he died with no heirs after losing the War of the Guelderian Succession. | |
Guy II of Châtillon (1346 – 22 Dec. 1397) | 1381–1397 | Count of Châteaudun Lord of Fréteval | Brother of the two precedent Counts, he was born a few months after his fater's death. He inherited the counties of his brother John II and all his close family's remaining territories: Blois, Châteaudun, Soissons, and Avesnes. By 1360, he was taken prisionier by the English as a consequence of treaty of Brétigny. His release costed him the county of Soissons. In 1374, he married his cousin Marie of Namur, with whom he had a son, Lord Louis III, who died in 1391. Therefore, Guy took the decision the give his titles to Duke Louis I of Orléans (even though there were closer heirs in the House of Blois-Châtillon). From 1391 to his death, he remained the usufructuary count of Blois. |
Even though the rights on the county were given to Duke Louis I of Orléans, Bloisian was not immediately integrated into the Crown Land. As a results, Dukes of Orléans also did hold the title of Count of Blois, until 1498 when Duke Louis II became King Louis XII.
Portrait | Name | Reign | Other titles | Description |
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Louis I of Orléans (13 March 1372 – 23 Nov. 1407) | 1397–1407 | Duke of Orléans Duke of Touraine Count of Valois Count of Soissons Count of Angoulême Count of Vertus | Second son of King Charles V, Orléanais is given to him as an apanage in 1392, then he received the full rights on Bloisian when Count Guy II died in 1397. He was assassinated on the Duke of Burgundy's order, John the Fearless. | |
Charles of Orléans (24 Nov. 1394 – 5 Jan. 1465) | 1407–1465 | Duke of Orléans Count of Valois Count of Soissons | Son of the precedent one. After a journey in England, he married Marie of Cleves, settled in the château of Blois then in Tours where he nogotiated a truce in 1444 which eventually would end up the Hundred Years' War. | |
Louis II of Orléans, then Louis XII of France (27 June 1462 – 1st Jan. 1515) | 1465–1498 | Duke of Orléans Count of Valois King of France (after 1498) | Son of the precedent one. Born in the château of Blois, he went to Amboise when King Charles VIII died in 1498. He was immediately crowned under the name Louis XII. As a consequence, the duchy of Orléans came back to the Crown's lands, and the entire King's court moved to Blois. |
On August 6, 1626, after a failed conspiracy in Nantes, Duke Gaston reluctantly accepted to marry the wealthy lady Duchess Marie of Montpensier, as Cardinal Richelieu wanted him to do. As a gift, he received the duchies of Orléans and of Chartres, plus the county of Blois.
Portrait | Name | Reign | Other titles | Description |
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Gaston of Orléans (24 April 1608 – 2 Feb. 1660) | 1626–1660 | Duke of Orléans Duke of Valois Duke of Anjou Duke of Chartres Lord of Montargis | Second son of King Henry IV, the county was gifted to him as an apanage once he married Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier in 1626. |
When Gaston died, his Orléans-based apanage came back to the Crown. King Louis XIV decided to give it to his own younger brother, Duke Philippe, excepted Bloisian (and so the châteaux of Blois and Chambord) as well as Languedoc. Therefore, the county became definitively part of French territory.
The Royal Château of Blois is a château located in the city center of Blois, Loir-et-Cher, in the Loire Valley, France. In addition to having been the residence of the Counts of Blois and some French Kings, Joan of Arc also went there by 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her army to drive against the English, who conquered Orléans the previous year.
Blois is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
An appanage, or apanage, is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much of Europe.
MonsieurGaston, Duke of Orléans, was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a Fils de France. He later acquired the title Duke of Orléans, by which he was generally known during his adulthood. As the eldest surviving brother of King Louis XIII, he was known at court by the traditional honorific Monsieur.
Duke of Orléans was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives, or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King Philip VI for his younger son Philip, the title was recreated by King Charles VI for his younger brother Louis, who passed the title on to his son and then to his grandson, the latter becoming King Louis XII. The title was created and recreated six times in total, until 1661, when Louis XIV bestowed it upon his younger brother Philippe, who passed it on to his male descendants, who became known as the "Orléans branch" of the Bourbons.
Alan II, nicknamed Wrybeard or Twistedbeard, Alan Varvek in Breton, was Count of Vannes, Poher and Nantes, and Duke of Brittany from 938 to his death. He was the grandson of King Alan the Great by Alan's daughter and her husband Mathuedoï I, Count of Poher. He expelled the Vikings/Norsemen from Brittany after an occupation that lasted from 907 to about 939.
The 4th House of Orléans, sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. The house was founded by Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII and younger brother of Louis XIV, the "Sun King".
The Duchy of Orléanais is a former province of France, which was created during the Renaissance by merging four former counties and towns. However after the French Revolution, the province was dissolved in 1791 and succeeded by five départments.
The Valois was a region in the valley of the Oise river in Picardy in the north of France. It was a fief in West Francia and subsequently the Kingdom of France until its counts furnished a line of kings, the House of Valois, to succeed the House of Capet in 1328. It was, along with the counties of Beauvais, the Vexin, Vermandois, and Laon, part of the "Oise line" of fiefdoms which were held often by one individual or an individual family as a string of defences against Viking assault on Paris.
The counts of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis first appeared in the early 11th century. Their principal town was Clermont, now in the Oise department but then within the ancient county of Beauvaisis in the province of Île-de-France.
The County of Blois was a feudal principality centred on Blois, south of Paris, France. It was created just after king Clovis I conquered Roman Gaul around AD 500. Between the 8th and the 13th centuries, it was amongst the most powerful vassal counties within the Kingdom of France, after having succeeded in surrounding the Capetian dynasty's lands of France since Blois annexed the Champagne.
Gaston IV was the sovereign Viscount of Béarn and the Count of Foix and Bigorre in France from 1436 to 1472. He also held the viscounties of Marsan, Castelbon, Nébouzan, Villemeur and Lautrec and was, by virtue of the county of Foix, co-prince of Andorra. From 1447 he was also Viscount of Narbonne. Through his marriage to Eleanor, heiress of the Kingdom of Navarre, he also held the title of Prince of Navarre.
Under the Ancien Régime, the goods of the House of Orléans comprised two distinct parts : the apanage and the "biens patrimoniaux".
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France were the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. While the term eventually came to refer to a territorial unit, the royal domain originally referred to the network of "castles, villages and estates, forests, towns, religious houses and bishoprics, and the rights of justice, tolls and taxes" effectively held by the king or under his domination. In terms of territory, before the reign of Henry IV, the domaine royal did not encompass the entirety of the territory of the kingdom of France and for much of the Middle Ages significant portions of the kingdom were the direct possessions of other feudal lords.
Peter I of Alençon was the son of Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence.
The County of Châteaudun was held in the 9th century by counts who also held the County of Blois. Theobald I created the first viscount of Châteaudun with the appointment of Geoffrey I, founder of the House of Châteaudun. The viscounts were entrusted with the government of the county of Châteaudun, records of whom are continuous from the mid-10th century. The actual rule of Châteaudun between the late 9th and the mid-10th centuries, and the relationships between the count and viscounts, is uncertain. The county was revived in 1439 when the region was recreated as the County of Dunois and granted to Jean Levieux Valois des Orléans, the illegitimate son of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, son of Charles V of France.
Hugh III, Seigneur of Le Puiset, son of Éverard III, Seigneur of Puiset and Viscount of Chartres, and Adelaide, Countess of Corbeil. Count of Corbel.
Blois-Vienne, or merely Vienne for locals, is the common name given to the southern part of Blois, central France, separated from the rest of the city by the natural border of the Loire river. It corresponds to the subdistricts of St Saturnin, La Creusille, Les Métairies and La Vaquerie, but also include the hamlets of Bas-Rivière and Béjun, although these ones are now administratively attached to the neighboring commune of Chailles. In other words, it is now the left bank of the Loire in Blois.